Review: 'Smash' - 'Let's Be Bad': Change of a dress

A review of last night's "Smash" coming up just as soon as sports are anathema to me...

You may recall that I gave "Smash" a relatively positive review — not love, but a fair amount of like — when it premiered a month ago. But a strange thing has happened as I've revisited the first four episodes (all of which I saw in advance) each week: I've liked the show less and less the more I've had to think and write about it. Maybe it's a show that's not really built to stand up to the kind of weekly scrutiny I usually give ("Grey's Anatomy" is an example of a show I enjoyed significantly more the second I stopped reviewing it), or maybe I just ignored some significant flaws at the start because I liked the idea of the show and the talent involved and wanted to focus on the things it did well.

Whatever the reason, I've been waiting more than a month to see an additional episode, and I hoped that "Let's Be Bad" would help clarify my feelings a bit. Instead, it just kept things muddled, as I strongly disliked the bulk of the hour, and yet found one sequence so strong — and such a good example of what "Smash" could be if it left its various bad habits behind — that I'm not ready to walk away yet.

Let's accentuate the positive first. The fully-realized "Let's Be Bad" number was terrific. Even more than the two "Marilyn: The Musical" songs from the pilot, it felt wholly plausible as something that would work on Broadway. And even if Tom, Julia and the other characters haven't to this point had particularly insightful things to say about Marilyn Monroe, that number suggested the musical itself could take all the cliched sentiments about Monroe's life and make them, well, sing. It was also a good example of the value of letting us see fantasy versions of how these numbers might look when we move from workshop to full-fledged show, as the song was much less impressive before we added costumes, sets and all the business with the "Some Like It Hot" crew. And it should go without saying that Megan Hilty killed it.

That number made me care about the idea of "Marilyn: The Musical" coming together. The problem is that "Smash" has consistently failed at making me care at all about any of the people involved in making it.

Take Karen, for instance. The show and NBC have positioned Kat McPhee as the star, and they want us to like and root for her. But while I don't dislike her — nor do I object to her dancing around in her underwear while singing "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" — she's not enough of a character to feel invested in at all. She's a blank slate, naive about everything and making every decision based entirely on the advice of others (whether Dev, Derek, her new dance class friends or even Ivy). We're meant to want her to win the role just because that's how the series is designed, and to make sure we don't get confused, Ivy is written as more and more of a neurotic, bitchy, unsympathetic mess the deeper we get into the series.

What's frustrating isn't necessarily that the "Smash" producers don't think that Hilty is better for the gig than McPhee. That's a matter of taste. What's frustrating is that they don't seem to recognize how much more interesting everything would be if we were given the chance to root for both of them — to empathize with the veteran chorus girl trying to navigate her first big break after years of toil, to have to genuinely weigh Karen's it factor against Ivy's polish and suitability for the role, to feel conflicted from scene to scene, episode to episode, about who we want to see ultimately play Marilyn when the show comes to Broadway. "Smash" doesn't want anyone to be Team Ivy, though. It wants its audience to get on board with the pre-determined outcome, and that's just as boring as Karen herself is.

And that's been an unfortunate pattern in everything "Smash" has done: it telegraphs each move, not necessarily realizing it's doing it, and then wants you to applaud or gasp or cry at something that was obvious four or five scenes earlier at a minimum.

But back to the characterization problem, I don't think the show is succeeding at any of what it's trying to do with the ensemble. There are people like Karen or Eileen we're supposed to like but have done little to earn that affection (Eileen is coasting almost entirely on whatever pre-existing affection we might have for Anjelica Huston), and others like Ivy or Derek or Ellis are almost cartoonish in their villainy. (I was just relieved that Ellis appeared only briefly, given that the description for the episode suggested a more prominent role.) And then there are people like Julia, whom the show attempts to give some moral shading to, but who ultimately comes across as too much of a spoiled narcissist — how is she somehow completely unaware that she's kissing her ex-love right under her son's(*) window? — for me to feel anything but impatience with.

(*) Leaving aside the bad performance by the actor playing Leo, "Smash" has done a terrible job of being consistent with who this kid is. One second, he sounds like an 8-year-old crying over what's going to happen to his hypothetical baby sister in China, the next he's getting in trouble for smoking pot and acting resentful that his mom cares so much about his hypothetical baby sister in China. The only way it makes sense at all that she would believe Leo would have gone right to bed was if he was actually supposed to be an overgrown elementary schooler, and maybe not even then.

I do like Tom, who's also self-involved much of the time but more consistently shows empathy for the likes of Julia and Ivy, and who gets benefit of the show's most charming performance by Christian Borle. But beyond him, and McPhee and Hilty when they're singing and dancing, there's not a person on camera I would miss in the slightest were they to disappear in the next episode, and several (Ellis, Leo) I'd be happy to never see again.

Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

Tom's songs about the trouble Leo was in made both me and my boyfriend laugh out loud (though this was probably aided by the wine we'd been drinking). But they were so much goofier than anything the show's writing usually does we wondered if Christian Borle had just improvised them himself.

I also don't understand why the writers took so much time to show us Michael's wife and child in his first episode if he's just going to spend all his time going after Julia. It just makes me hate him, not root for them or be sympathetic to their situation.

Agree on Tom's song, W. One of the reasons I enjoyed the USO number last week was it was a rare moment in the series where anybody seemed to be having any fun, and this was another example of that. I know that fame costs, you pay in sweat, blah blah blah, but it's hard to enjoy myself watching this show when so few of the characters ever seem to be enjoying anything.

And ditto on Michael. He's introduced as a guy who doesn't want to take the job because he's fixated on being a good husband and father, and even if that's just him guarding against what he knows to be his own weakness, it made me hate him even more than if he was just a single guy trying to bust up Julia's marriage.

I doubt that Borle improved the lyrics in that song. Granted he may have the talent to do it but don't forget the original songs/lyrics are by Shaiman and Whitman who are both revered songwriters and lyricists.

They are doing a TERRIBLE job of making me care that Karen gets the role. Instead, I'm just aggravated that they keep making Ivy more and more of a bitch. It's not making me care more about Karen, it's just making me angry at the show. It doesn't help that McPhee has no charisma.

I feel that I could like Julia if she didn't have to deal with some of the worst parts of the show. Leo, the baby adoption, her insufferable son,...

Smash seems like one of those cases of a show with a fantastic pilot but wasn't able to match that level (on even a tenth of that level). I think I'm done with it, but I really hope to read positive reviews of the upcoming episodes.

I second that. UGH that the adoption story is back in the fold. I was hoping they had dropped that. Moreover, And suddenly Frank Houston (d'Arcy James) is out of town just when Michael (Chase) stops by for a random dinner and seduces Julia "on the steps of the[ir] palace!" Give me a break

why the show insist on focusing on Julia is beyond me. the pacing always came to a screeching halt when they show her life outside of the musical, and it is irritating indeed. i don't care about her, her son, her husband, her adoption, and the least of all, her goddamn boring affair - i only care about her work on the musical. it's as if the writers insist on making her AND Michael unlikable. i was under the impression it would be a story of two Marilyn, which is when the show engages the most for me, whenever they steer away from that, i lost interest.

Disagree about Karen. She's one if the only characters I am actually invested in, and can root for, and no Alan - NOT BECAUSE THE SMASH WRITERS ARE TELLING ME TO! Yeah she is spacey and naive, but at least she's real, and i like that. I was a little worried they were making her too perfect, but i liked that she was more assay in this episode, especially in the intrepid scenes. I don't have a problem with them making Ivy the way she is, because it makes sense given her 10 years in the chorus insecurities, but it doesn't change the fact that Ivy is a person just comes across as pretty unlikeable. She makes a great Marilyn though - Let's Be Bad was a definite highlight, as was Karen's IAMMMW. I wish the show focused more on the musical itself and the Karen and Ivy dynamic to be honest, as its this aspect of the storyline I am most invested in. One problem casting Marilyn so early tho, is that Karen is always left with the 'sing a pop song' subplot of the week, and what i really want is to see her do another Marilyn number so we can see if she has what it takes. Her mambo was fantastic. Loved Tom as well in this episode. I noticed him for the first time. Leo is just, well .....

Well, basically you find Ivy unlikeable is because the writers have done a good job making her less and less of a real person. So yeah, the writers have succeed in demolishing this complex character into a simple crazy bitch...

The only reason you're "supposed to like" Karen is because she's radiant and extremely talented. If you can't see that, then I don't know what to tell you. Karen is one of the best characters in the show and McPhee plays the role flawlessly. But, Sepinwall, you've been biased about McPhee all along, so I don't expect you to change now.

I LIKE McPhee. I rooted for her for her entire season on Idol. I was disappointed her recording career never amounted to much. I liked her in the pilot, and I like her generally when she sings on the show. But Karen is a terrible, stupid, black hole of a character. That has nothing to do with my feelings about McPhee and everything to do with the writing on this show.

Alan, I totlaly agree that the writing is mostly to blame though I cannot see the star power that NBC is convinced of. I think she`s doing OK with what she`s got but nothing beyond OK and I honestly don`t think she`d be more than OK even if the writing was top notch. Charisma just isn`t there for carrying the show.

That said, I am very affraid that NBC will push this with Emmy`s to the max and that drivel writing and uneven acting will get nominations over people who really deserve it but aren`t on Emmy-friendly shows. I don`t think that anyone on Smash deserves to be a presenter at Emmy`s let alone nominee or winner. Characters are weak. Acting ranges from trully awful (Razzie Jaffrey...I know his name is Raza but razzie is really appropriate here, Cepedo, actors who play Leo) to alright (McPhee, Borle and Hilty) to seen them in much better shape (Huston, Messing, Davenport). I`d like your opinion on nomination chances.

Sepinwall is right. Hilty is just a better singer and actor than McPhee. Period. I like McPhee too, and if her character was better written, I'd be more inclined to root for her over her more talented competition. But she's not. Of course, that can be said about just about everyone on this show not named Tom. I think I'm out. I only watched the first segment last night before changing the channel.

As for Diane's comment above, I don't think we have to worry about this show stealing any Emmy nominations from more deserving shows. The Outstanding Drama Series category should be stacked, with Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, Justified, Mad Men, Homeland and even Luck and The Good Wife all in contention (personally, I don't see how anything beats Breaking Bad, but I thought the same after the third season, and it still lost). There's no way Smash will beat out any of those shows. If there's an undeserving show to be worried about stealing a nomination, it's Dexter.

I agree on the inconsistency with Leo--his switch from worst dialogue ever ("you promised me a baby sister! she's out there waiting for us!") to worst performance ever (never thinking that his behavior might affect the adoption odds and mouthing off to his mom after getting dragged to a police station in cuffs) makes him absolutely infuriating.

And Michael's even worse. W, above, beat me to it on the inconsistency of his devotion to his family when introduced and his shameless pursuit of Julia ever since. Plus, they're telegraphing scenes. When he grabbed her in the clinch last night, the first thing that crossed my mind was "I wonder if Leo's room faces front?" and then when the camera held on them I thought it was cool that that was left ambiguous. But then it began to pan up....sigh. Anvilicious.

And, yes, they're making Ivy a ridiculous villain, which isn't fair to her (although unlike you, Alan, I can't stand Hilty in the role of Marilyn--the whole motivation for the show-within-a-show was to demonstrate the vulnerability and pain beneath the sexpot exterior, but Hilty is all belt and brass and bust--she really irritates me as Marilyn). The conflict feels manufactured, as well: the "Let's Be Bad" number would never have used the same kind of vibrato as "Happy Birthday, Mr President," and Marilyn was more than capable of belting. Asking Karen to "teach" Ivy the vibrato was also ridiculous and, I think, unlikely for the setting.

But I don't dislike Derek as much as you do (or, apparently, as much as my sister-in-law does). I guess I've watched way too many 1930s films set on Broadway, but the bastard of a director is practically a trope--from "42nd Street" to "Twentieth Century" to "Stage Door." So Derek is a familiar type to me, and he fits (plus, I have a lot of residual goodwill for Jack Davenport from his days as Steven on "Coupling"). Karen (it pains me to say, since we share a name) is not proving why she belongs (she REALLY needed to step up during Ivy's take-down of her and, at least, mention that at least she hadn't slept with the director to get the part).

But despite all the flaws--so many!--I can't stop watching it. I'm glad I don't have to review it, though.

Tom and Derek are easily my two favorite characters. Christian Borle is probably responsible for Tom's appeal, but I think Derek is the most consistent character on the show. He might be an ass, but he's an ass who wants to get the job done. If you're having some kind of personal drama, then you need to either suck it up or move on. Sure, him sleeping with Ivy didn't particularly help matters. But it makes sense that he doesn't see how that should affect matters. His first priority is the show, and he can just set all other aspects of his life aside for it, and he thinks everyone else should do the same.

I can see how some people wouldn't care for that kind of character, but I find it strangely appealing.

I don`t get it why they opted to write Derek as some dark psycho as opposed to charming bastard. I thought that the type of character he`s playing should be someone who`s enormously charismatic and charming and manipulates people on that instead of hot/cold out of blue tantrums. The moment where everyone applauds Ivy`s performence but he leaves in anger was really ridiculous as was his yelling at Karen to sing. I get that they need a villain but good writing can turn even villains into maybe not likable but fascinating people. Like The Joker and Hans Landa. They are terrifying and oddly likable despite being the ultimate bad guys. And the actor is very likable in interviews and in some other roles so it`s a big waste. hell, they have so many likable actors on the show yet every single character is unlikable.

Note to Sam: I just deleted your comment not because it disagreed with me (disagreement is fine), but because it violated the blog's No Spoiler rule about giving away plot points from upcoming episodes. Feel free to complain about me some more so long as you can keep it within the context of what happens in this episode.

I disagree with you this week. While last week, yeah, they made Ivy out to be a bitch, but in reality, they're giving us a ton of insight on Ivy (her insecurities and imperfections) that are just making her a stronger and soon to be more understood or relatable character. I also disagree that people can't be invested in Karen. I'm completely mesmerized by her. Her innocence and inexperience as well as her easily influenced decision-making as you mentioned, is going to make her growth and transformation that much more epic as she will obviously come into her own sooner or later. You may think that Karen is naive but I think she's a better actor than you are giving her credit for. Norma Jean may have been perceived the same way but she obviously wasn't a fool either. They both "know what they bring to the party" that's for sure.

I have a love/hate thing with this show, too, at the moment--but the good is outweighing the bad. Those musical numbers tonight with Ivy and Karen were so electric, I couldn't help but get sucked back in.

Wow I wish you could just review the episode normally instead of obsessing over this supposed manipulation! Shoot me for liking Karen because she happens to be a nice person. I also love her voice, but it doesn't mean I can't appreciate how great a Marilyn Ivy makes. The writers didn't try and make out Karen was superior in this episode. Ivys probable downfall will be all about her insecurities, not Karen.

TXT you nailed it. For months NBC put the promos out (and living in NYC on every taxi and billboard imaginable) that this was a show about a Broadway musical. We were going to get to see the inner workings of how it's put together, how the music is written, etc. And they burn so much screen time on everything else. This show could have a rule that the cameras can't leave the stage or studio and it would be way better than it is now.

Stick to the musical, Smash! That's the show you promised us for months. We don't care about Karen's boyfriend. We don't care about the adoption. We'd like Leo to develop a serious drug problem so he can OD and get out of our lives (scratch that. Then we'd have to deal with at least 2 episodes of grief. Just send him off to a private school in Vermont). We'll just assume that these people have no lives outside of the show, which is pretty accurate for actors in rehearsal anyway.

Hopefully they can right the ship. The numbers actually went up this week from last week's train wreck. The Voice should be able to carry it to a second season. They have a chance to get this right. Let's see if they do.

The scene where the black gay guy asks Tom if he saw the Knicks game was brutally amateurish. Lots of people, gay or straight, don't like sports and only an idiot would just assume some guy they know nothing about had seen the Knicks game an then dismiss them as "too gay" cause they don't like sports. This show trys to break down stereotypes alot but it always comes across stupid

Yeah, there's sort of this reverse thing going on with the show. I find myself liking Ivy and Derek the most (besides Tom, but he isn't one), two characters who I suppose were meant to be villains in the show.

There's a bit with Derek I enjoyed in the episode. Sure, he's an asshole and a perv, but he has a point in that as the director, his personal relationship with Ivy doesn't, and shouldn't matter at practice.

From the way they're writing Ivy's character, I think we're supposed to identify her with Marilyn -- wildly talented, vulnerable, manipulated by men, and hard to work with. Meanwhile, Karen is Norma Jeane -- unspoiled, innocently sexy, but more ambitious than she appears.

The problem is that these archetypes don't translate well into actual human beings who aren't Marilyn. And if the show really intends to keep portraying them that way, they'll never develop into believable characters of their own.

I agree that Hilty sequence was fantastic. That is why I continue to watch the show. I want to see the great musical numbers and could care less about everything else. I originally wanted Karen to win the role as Marilyn, but Hilty as Ivy has been so phenomenal that I hope she hangs on to keep the role.

It does seem strange that the writers, intending to provide interesting private lives context to balance the workshop/dreamshop material have consistently shown only the most unattractive and/or preposterous sides of the characters' lives. Julia, as note, has anvils tied to each of her shapely ankles -- the idiot son played by the bad, bad actor; the adoption story nobody could possibly be interested in; the husband so forgettable that he improves by being out of town; the "family man" ex-lover who only has to see Julia again to forget about them (and his seemingly DiMaggio-obsessed wife) and turn into a boozing stalker-hound. Then there is Karen's totally uninteresting boyfriend who is angling for a press secretary's position in the Mayor's office while seemingly unaware that his Oxbridge-Indian accent might do Bloomberg a disservice in the PR department. Ellis, the most gay heterosexual drama queen ever has taken Eve Harrington as his role model, and poor dear Anjelica Huston is reduced to playing her wardrobe. I am hanging on only for what happens inside the studio, and for that reason only I continue to watch. And, against all reason, find Derek my favorite next to Ivy simply because he knows who and what he is. Oy.

I find the show`s characters utterly deplorable but if I have to choose favorites that would be the same as you picked - Derek and Ivy. He`s a douche but he doesn`t deny it and she at least called him on it before sucumbing to his charms. OTOH, Dull treated Karen like crap with his "I only care for promotion, get sexy, who gives a crap if you are uncomfortable" and especially when he didn`t save her a seat or protest that she couldn`t sit with him or just sit with her promotion be damned. That was beyond offensive yet she didn`t say anything and humped him in the cab as a present or something. How awful! Who writes this crap? No woman is this level of sheep-passive. What a horrible role model! Trully terrible scene, writing and characters.

This is a series that takes sexual harassment as a unique selling proposition, for gals on the go in and out of the rehearsal room.

What Rebeck would denounce in a L&O writers' room, she touts here, when the series would be a hell of a lot interesting if the damage done to Ivy and Karen by their luvable men in power were put on that Marilyn axis, instead of an excuse for the girls to put on teh sexxay.

The most character-damaging ten minutes this season was watching Karen denounce girls who "were that way" (and she's on Broadway? In a chorus line? REALLY?), then forget all that in seducing herself (and how did she learn those stripper moves, in between calling her competitors sluts?), then her boyfriend's rival, then her boyfriend. Yay, empowerment.

Karen, ast a hypocrite who's cheered on for her hypocrisy by the writers, is far more of a pill than Ivy, a girl on the verge of no longer being a girl, of being washed up through the desperate chances she takes to get ahead. That's not a musical; that's a tragedy, and SMASH is too short for that gesture.

I'm still watching cause I like the premise, like to sing (when I find something singable) and I care about Karen more than i care about a single character on Private Practice, even though I am still watching it. (most of those characters just bed hop with no reason or chemistry than I can see. the characters on Grey's are at least mostly younger and frequently seem to have reasons for who they sleep with)

"What's frustrating is that they don't seem to recognize how much more interesting everything would be if we were given the chance to root for both of them […] "Smash" doesn't want anyone to be Team Ivy, though. It wants its audience to get on board with the pre-determined outcome, and that's just as boring as Karen herself is."

I don't agree with this at all. To me, the show spends a lot of plot and dialogue giving viewers opportunities to empathize with Ivy. Also, I don't see how Derek is being painted as a cartoonish villain. He may be cold and severe, but he is being perfectly rational, and the show always gives him moments to explain why. It makes me wonder whether I should listen more to Dan's take about Sarah Palin's portrayal in Game Change, which you also found to be overly negative and one-sided.

I disagree. I understand that Derek pulled his "I'm the director, I only care about the show" crap later in the episode. But Tom was in that room too. And Tom is the COMPOSER. He is every bit as important to the musical as Derek is, and even he saw it fit to applaud Ivy for KILLING that number. In fact, every did. Gotta remember that everyone in that room is a professional in the theater world except Karen, and they all gave Ivy her props. So it WAS usual, and disrespectful, that while everyone was applauding Ivy for a job well done, Derek just got up and walked out without a word. It wasn't rational at all. It was unnecessarily cold, and Ivy had every reason to feel insecure.

Even if you disagree about whether Ivy's (excellent) performance had the so-called "it" factor that Derek was seeking, at least you can accept my main point? As you mention yourself, Ivy had every reason to feel insecure. I don't see how that moment could be seen as anything other than an attempt by the writers to foster a space for a "Team Ivy." The writers aren't shying away from giving Karen unsympathetic traits, either, with her inability to understand "dialing it down" in last week's episode, and her "I always looked down on girls" line this week.

Alan, I'm surprised that you didn't note how this episode seemed to be evidence that they've given up the pretense of not being "Glee." In the past, they awkwardly shoehorned in scenes where McPhee went to bars, clubs, etc. so her singing could be featured. However, here they just had her singing in her room, and they had the Michael character singing to Julia on the street with a straight face.Even without that shift, the show still has major problems, as you said. The writing continues to be stunningly poor: The plot developments are cliched and predictable; the characters are mostly boring; and the "drama" is tedious. The one good part of this episode was the fantasized "Let's Be Bad" musical number, which was very entertaining. Unfortunately, the show seems to be less interested in focusing on those kinds of scenes and more interested in being a sub-mediocre soap opera, as the trailer for next week made abundantly clear. I'm done with this show.

I really enjoyed this episode. Everyone is trying to place logic on it. Are Broadway musicals logical. The characters are exaggerated but that is also no different than a Broadway show. The musical numbers are quite good. Isn't everyone tired of the same line-up of crime shows, medical shows. Smash isn't for everybody. It's disjointed at times. Many of the scenes have no believability. There are enough good scenes in the show to keep me watching.

I agree with most of the points. What I really hate of this show is how it tries to shove into your throat the feeling on whom/what you should like and whom/what you shouldn't. The first episode did a great job to present Ivy and Karen as two well-rounded individuals, now I find both of them irritating, thank you writers! Julia's personal life could have been played with more subtlety and now it's just a collection of bad clichés. I wouldn't even mind at the presence of a character like Ellis - every show needs a villain - but he has become just too soapy. And I don't want even start with the predictability of many scenes.I think everyone wants to like this series, but it is becoming stale very very fast, IMO...